Lord Of The Flies Sequel
by Nerdgirl100
Summary: Ralph is back in society, or what's left of it, far away from the island of savages. But does that really mean Jack is done with him that easily? Will adults even believe his story? Can he make Jack see what he's become? He might be doomed, if he didn't have help... Contains an OC but no pairing, and no Jalph. Warnings for mental illness, as well as (potentially intense) violence.
1. Chapter 1

"These are the kids from the island?" The woman eyed the kids curiously. Ralph guessed that she was the person running the institution. The naval officer had said they would be spending some time here.

The officer nodded.

"Yep. You only have to take them until we track down their parents."

"If we ever do track down their parents." The woman shook her head sadly. "What are their names?"

"They... don't seem that interested in talking to adults. Must be a byproduct of being left alone for so long, I dunno." The officer shrugged, then spoke again. "This one's name I know. He's Ralph." The officer gestured to Ralph, who was standing unnecessarily close beside him. Ralph realized this must look particularly strange coupled with the way the tribe was standing a good two yards away from the officer. He shifted uncomfortably. The woman, seemingly noticing this as well, hesitated for a moment.

"Well. I'm Ms. Kling, and I own the Corlake Institute for Displaced Children. I hope you guys feel at home here. There's a map of the building over there. I'm sorry I don't have time to show you around." Ms. Kling smiled constrainedly. "I'm assuming you guys can figure out the general rules on your own. We've never had to talk about them before, so you should be fine."

Ralph felt a jolt of alarm tear through his chest. Figure out rules on their own? That was what they tried to do on the island!

Before he could protest, Ms. Kling began to walk away. Ralph followed her. If she was responsible for enforcing the rules, it was probably safest to stay near her. Especially if she just expected everyone to figure them out on their own. She turned to him.

"Why, hello, Ralph. Is there anything you need?"

Ralph froze up almost instantly. How could he explain why he needed to stay near her to avoid getting hurt? He just shrugged.

"Well, if there's nothing you need, why don't you just go play with the others for now? I'm really busy, and... well... I need to go right now. Is that alright?"

Ralph broke into tears, something he seemed to be doing a lot lately. Mrs. Kling knelt down and looked him in the eye.

"Look. I don't know what you've been through, but it's going to be alright. You're going to be OK. But I need to get back to work. I'm sure you can handle yourself." She stood up and walked away.

Ralph started to make another attempt to follow her. It came to him that a second try would go no better than the first.

His heart thumped against his chest. He'd be screwed now. He hadn't seen any other adults in the room, and he was pretty sure the naval officer had left when he wasn't looking. They were going to do him now that they had their chance. There'd be no escape.

Ralph turned around to see Jack stalking over to him slowly and deliberately, with a violent gleam in his eye. Ralph started to back away. He stumbled over his own foot. Hopefully, whatever Jack was about to do would end soon.

A voice made them both jump.

"What are you doing?"

The voice's owner was a girl, about 11. She had an odd resemblance to Jack, with curly red hair pulled into pigtails. Instead of looking scared, she looked curious and almost stern. Her arms were crossed across her chest, yet her eyes were wide in interest.

"None of your business." Jack glared at her.

"You know, I'm not going away until you tell me what's going on."

"It's none of your business. If you don't go away you will regret it."

Rather than leaving, the girl turned to Ralph.

"What's your name?"

Ralph hesitated, then spoke in a soft voice.

"You should probably go."

The girl raised her eyebrows.

"I didn't hear what you said, but I don't think it was your name."

Ralph sighed. This girl probably wasn't going to last a second around Jack's tribe.

"It's Ralph."

"Alright, Ralph, what's going on?"

Jack glowered at her.

"I am going to give you one last warning." He was speaking through a clenched jaw.

"Or what?"

"Or I'll stab you with this." Jack held his spear menacingly.

"Is that what you're doing to Ralph right now?"

Jack glanced away for a moment.

"What's it to you?"

With no warning, the girl grabbed Ralph's arm and charged into the hall.

Ralph was hit with a wave of breathlessness as he tried to comprehend what was going on. What did this girl think she was doing, anyway? Couldn't she tell it was clearly a bad idea? Now they were both going to get killed! He could hear a storm of footsteps behind them. The entire tribe must have joined the chase at this point. Ralph tried to collect his thoughts.

"Wha...what...what are you...?" Ralph asked between gasps.

"I'm saving you, stupid."

"I don't think it's working!"

"Well, it is. I think."

The girl shoved him through a door on his left, and barely managed to slam it shut and turn the lock. The savages began to bang on the door. Inside the room, muffled chanting was audible.

"They're going to knock the door down."

"Yeah... you should get in the closet; I know how things work here."

The closet only had about a square foot of room, and was pitch black. If the girl had been keeping more than a couple articles of clothing inside, it would have been an impossible hiding spot. Even so, Ralph hardly managed to get in and wrestle the door shut.

His shaky breaths felt cramped inside the closed space. There wasn't much room to shift, either. This probably wasn't going to work. If the door opened, he'd be cornered. There really weren't that many other hiding places in the room, and the closet was the most obvious. There wasn't anything to do now but wait to be found.

He heard the door to the room burst open, and then he heard the girl shout.

"Mrs. Kling!"

A patter of footsteps rang down the hall.

"What is it De- what is going on here?!"

"He bust down my door and threatened me with a spear!"

"While I have no proof about the spear part, it is apparent that Destiny is telling the truth about her door. You guys should know that all the money I spend is to take care of you. If I am forced to buy new doors all the time, I won't be able to do that as well. Destiny, you may move to the room across the hall, it's empty. Now, the rest of you boys can go play in the foyer, but please, please don't break anything else!"

The sound of footsteps receding into the hall could be heard from the closet. The girl opened the door. Ralph blinked, his eyes re-adjusting to the light.

He was alive. By some miracle, the girl's plan had worked. He exhaled quietly. The girl looked at the empty doorframe anxiously.

"Okay, I think we're good. You can come with me to the room across the hall. There is stuff we really need to talk about." She turned to walk away, but paused and turned back around. "My name is Destiny. If you couldn't tell."

Ralph nodded wordlessly.


	2. Chapter 2

Ralph sat across from Destiny on a cot. The room was barren, with the cot, a dresser, a mirror, and a closet. Destiny's eyes were focused on Ralph.

"Explain exactly what happened over there."

Ralph shrugged.

"I don't know what there is to explain. He wants to kill me." His voice wavered near the end of the sentence.

"Alright, well, do you know his name?"

"Jack. But I don't think anyone's called him that in a long time. He's Chief to them."

"Well, there is no way we're calling him that too. Jack it is." She paused for a moment. "Do you know why Jack wants to kill you?"

An odd mixture of cold and heat washed over Ralph, and he found himself unable to respond. He shook his head while holding back tears. Rather than showing sympathy, Destiny snapped at him.

"The least you could do is tell me what you do know. All I did was it would be nice to be an everyday hero for once, and now I'm involved in some weird murder plot."

"What did you think was happening?"

Destiny glared. "Not this!"

"Sorry..."

Gaze softening, Destiny sighed. "I thought it was just bullying. I wanted to help, okay? Just tell me what you know about what is happening." She paused. "I heard Mrs. Kling say something about you being from an island when you arrived."

Ralph looked away from her.

"We were stranded on an island together. All of us."

"So, everyone that came here?"

Ralph nodded. Destiny chewed her lip thoughtfully.

"What does that have to do with...?"

"They started a tribe. Jack's the chief."

"And why exactly does he want to kill you?"

Ralph couldn't help shouting.

"I told you already, I don't know!"

As hard as he tried to hold it together, he couldn't help breaking into sobs. Through a screen of tears, he saw Destiny shift on the mattress.

"Look, I'm sorry if I pushed you too hard. It's just that... I don't know... this is so sudden, and..."

"It's fine," Ralph muttered as he wiped away the tears that couldn't stop falling. He looked at Destiny. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know." After a moment's silence, she looked at him urgently. "We shouldn't act afraid. That will encourage him."

"What should we do, then?"

Destiny stared at the ceiling.

"I don't know what else. We just shouldn't act afraid." She looked back at Ralph. "It's about lunchtime. We should head to the cafeteria soon, anyway. C'mon."

...

 **Wow, that chapter took surprisingly long to finish. Sorry! I had a busy schedule, and I was thinking of things to come in the next chapter. Don't worry, it will be worth the wait.**


	3. Chapter 3

There wasn't much in the cafeteria. Just a bunch of rickety tables and benches, plus a window that kids could get food from. The food itself was repulsive looking, some sort of weird mixture with tomato slices on top. Ralph hardly noticed the odd smell wafting from it. Jack hadn't come in yet, and Ralph still wasn't sure how the whole "act unafraid" thing would go. Destiny, however, seemed completely unfazed. Then again, maybe she was just a better actor.

"The government is wasting its money on the war, rather than getting us decent food. The cook always puts fresh vegetables and stuff like that with the food to try and make it more edible." Destiny sniffed the mush before picking of the tomatoes an throwing the rest in a nearby trash can. "It doesn't work. Don't worry, this is a less edible meal. They have better ones. Sometimes."

Ralph nodded wordlessly as he looked to the door. A nervous feeling clawed at his stomach.

"You know, you shouldn't bite your nails like that."

Ralph looked to Destiny with a start.

"Huh?"

Destiny sighed in annoyance.

"I said, you shouldn't bite your nails like that. It's a bad habit."

"I was biting my nails?"

"Yes, you were."

"Oh."

"Are you really that nervous about Jack? Its not that bad, I think."

"You don't know-"

A door by the kitchen swung open, and Jack, followed by Roger, walked in. Destiny leaned over and whispered to Ralph.

"What was he doing out there? That was the door to the vegetable and herb garden."

Ralph shrugged. He was too preoccupied to think about why Jack was now spending time with plants. He just cared about staying alive at this point.

"Hey Jack!" Destiny shouted across the room. Ralph took a big step back. It was one thing to act unafraid, but another to be that noticeable! Jack looked up, slightly surprised. "We aren't afraid!" Jack started forward angrily before noticing Ms. Kling at the other side of the room. Still glaring, he took a seat at a distant table. Destiny looked at Ralph triumphantly.

"See? He won't attack with adults around."

"He's going to do us in later."

"I'm sure we can avoid that. Come on, take a seat."

The two of them sat at the table next to each other. Ralph looked nervously at Destiny.

"How exactly do you plan on stopping him?"

Destiny shrugged and stared at the slice of tomato she was holding.

"I thought maybe he'd be over it by the time we were left alone."

"You really don't understand this, do you? He won't stop."

They were both silent for a moment. Destiny pointed at the door to her old room, now leaning against a wall. The door was covered in scrapes and gouges from everyone's spears.

"Wow, look what they did to that door." Destiny returned to staring at the tomato. "They haven't... they haven't ever done that to a person, right?"

Simon.

The dance.

A thousand memories, images, and sensations flashed in Ralph's mind. It felt like a sledgehammer had hit him in the stomach. He dimly heard someone say his name.

"Ralph?"

Ralph pushed himself up from the table and ran into the hallway. He collapsed against the wall and began sobbing. How could he have done this? He had joined them. And look what had happened. Simon did nothing, but that didn't make a difference. Ralph never would have even known that was him, if he didn't see the bloody, torn apart corpse before going back to his half of the island. If he was capable of doing this, when would it end? It wasn't even just the tribe hurting him and the people he cared about. He was fully capable of joining them.

"Ralph?! Ralph, what happened?"

Ms. Kling was barely visible behind a wall of tears. Ralph pulled himself away from her and started rocking back and forth. On the boat, Jack had warned him that things would only get worse for him if he didn't keep quiet. If he told, he'd just be putting himself in even more trouble. Not that he didn't deserve it, after...

"Ralph!"

Ralph curled into an even tighter ball. Maybe Ms. Kling would just leave him alone. She put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to shudder.

"Ralph, you have to tell me what is going on. It's my job to help you."

Ralph shook his head.

"Look, I need to know what's going on to help you. Please tell me. You can trust me."

Ralph sobbed harder, his entire body shaking a little. He shook his head again, with more force. Ms. Kling sat next to him silently, and listened to him cry for a couple of minutes. Relaxing a little, Ralph finally looked at her.

"Why are you staying here?"

"I thought it could help."

"There's really nothing you could do to help."

"I'm sure there's some way I could." Ms. Kling put her arm around his shoulder. "Did something happen on the island? The officer said that some kids didn't make it."

"I'm a murderer," Ralph whispered under his breath. Ms. Kling drew back a little.

"What? What did you just say?"

"Nothing!" Ralph said quickly.

Ms. Kling looked him in the eye.

"Ralph, if someone got killed, that's a serious matter that I need to know about immediately. What happened?"

"It's nothing." Ralph got up, but Ms. Kling grabbed his shoulder before he could leave.

"Tell me what happened."

Ralph couldn't look at her.

"It... it was really just an accident... it's not important."

Ms. Kling gestured for him to continue.

"W-well... we were doing this dance... hunt... uh, a hunting dance? He... Simon... he walked into the middle of it, and...and..." Ralph broke off into sobs.

Ms. Kling stepped back a little, then hugged Ralph. She let go and looked into his eyes.

"Alright. I'll look into this more. It will be okay."

She hugged him again for a moment.

"You should go back to your friend now."

"Alright. Bye."

...

When he walked back into the lunch room, Destiny ran over with a panicked expression.

"I... I'm assuming that was a yes. To me asking if they ever... you know..." Destiny laughed darkly. "Crud." More dark laughter. Ralph looked at the ground.

"Yeah.. just don't mention it." He looked up again. "He is definitely going to do me."

"He's more likely to kill you now?"

"I told him that I wouldn't tell."

Destiny's expression morphed to confusion.

"Why? He could get arrested. We'd be safe."

"He threatened to make it worse if I told."

"Oh."

Silence descended on them for several minutes. A short while later, Destiny spoke up.

"We should go back to the-"

Fists clenched, Jack stormed toward them. Ralph's heart started to pound faster.

"What in bloody hell was that?" Jack was yelling. The few tribe members left in the room stopped what they were doing to watch.

"I-I..." Ralph couldn't get himself to speak. Roger appeared at Jack's side.

"At least you could have told on me for something I did! That was a dirty trick!"

Wait. Something he did? Ralph couldn't understand what Jack was talking about.

"What... what do you-?"

"You know what I mean! When I said not to tell anyone what happened, I meant what didn't happen too! You can't just lie to get me in trouble and expect to get away with it!"

"What do you mean, what didn't happen?" Ralph was starting to yell as well.

"You know what I mean! You said we killed Simon in a dance!"

A strange buzz of confusion, fear, and sadness had formed in Ralph's stomach. Did the tribe somehow not know about this?

Roger looked at Jack, surprised.

"Simon?"

"We didn't do that!"

Destiny piped up, "Is that the name of the person you killed?"

"It's the name of someone we _didn't_ kill!"

"It sounds like something you would do."

"Well, we didn't!"

"Yes, we did!" Ralph was shouting the loudest now, and tears were pouring down his cheeks.

" _We_? Including you?"

"Yes!"

"So you're telling on _yourself_ for something you didn't do? Why?"

"No, we _did_ do that!"

"What? No! When?"

"At the feast!"

"That was the beast!"

"That was Simon! I saw his body before I left!"

"No it wasn't!"

"Yes, it was!"

"That was the beast! Simon's around here somewhere. You're just upset that he sided with me!"

"We killed him," Ralph said numbly.

"No we didn't!" Jack took a step forward, putting his spear to Ralph's throat. "So stop telling people we did!"

Ralph tried to speak, but no words came out. His anger and sadness had been replaced with the adrenaline now running through his veins. Destiny took a step forward.

"H-hey-"

Jack glared sharply at her, and she snapped her mouth shut. Eyes darting around the room, Roger tapped Jack's arm.

"I hear someone coming."

Jack lowered his spear, sending a final glare to Ralph.

"I'm not done with you yet."

With Roger following him, he turned and left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

Ralph was still rubbing his throat in shock when a woman with an apron, hairnet, and gloves walked in from the kitchen. Her eyes widened when she noticed Ralph and Destiny.

"Oh! You kids are still here?"

Destiny turned to the cafeteria lady.  
"Yeah. Should we go?"

"No, not at all! It's just that there's hardly ever anyone here this late after lunch." She smiled. "I'm Dotty, the cook."

"I'm Destiny, and this is Ralph."

The cook's hand flew to her chest.

"Oh! One of the island kids!"

Ralph forced a smile.

"Yeah," he said softly. Her eyebrows creased.

"Are you okay? I thought I heard shouting."

"I'm fine." His voice wavered. Her eyebrows creased even more.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Ralph didn't think she looked totally convinced.

"Alright. If you ever need anything..."

"I know. Thanks," Ralph mumbled, eager to end the conversation.

He speed walked out of the lunchroom, hands wrapped around his torso.

"Don't forget, you have class tomorrow!" Dotty called as he walked out.

...

Sitting in the last row, Ralph looked at the man at the head of the classroom- a tall man with graying hair. He looked at the class and smiled.

"Hallo klasse. Jeg ser at vi har noen nye studenter. Jeg er Mr. Silloh, din lærer i alle fag."

The class stared back at him in confusion as he continued to smile.

"I thought I'd greet the newcomers in one of the first foreign languages I learned, Norwegian. I know five languages total: Norwegian, French, Spanish, Japanese, and, of course, English."

"Oh bother," Destiny muttered under her breath.

"What I said was, 'Hello class. I see we have some new students. I'm Mr. Silloh, your teacher in all subjects.'" He paused, but the class remained dead silent. "I heard you newcomers came from an island. I once went scuba diving near an island. After the dive, I needed to pee. So I went to the bathroom, but the person before me forgot to lock the door. I mean, I had no way of knowing they were in there, and I really needed to go pee. So I opened the door and they just panicked. But, I mean, if they didn't wan't someone walking in on them, they should have just locked the door. But then security came because of their screams, and-"

"Didn't I tell you to start tracking down the kids' parents?" Ms. Kling was standing by the classroom door, glaring at Mr. Silloh. Mr. Silloh fidgeted anxiously.

"Well, um, I just thought they might like-"

"Never mind, I don't have time for this," Ms. Kling grumbled under her breath. She leaned toward Ralph and whispered, "I need to talk to you after class. My office is at the end of the hall. You'll know it when you see it."


	5. Chapter 5

Ralph walked toward Ms. Kling's office, holding a stack of papers. The boys from the island had filled out questionnaires to help track down their parents. Ralph had volunteered to take them to Ms. Kling, since he was going to her office anyway.

Ms. Kling probably wanted to talk to him because of the whole Simon thing. She probably wanted to question him about it. He'd have to be more careful with what he said, or... or...

What else could he say? As hard as he tried, he couldn't think of any good excuses. The best he could do would probably be to not let anything else slip about what happened on the island.

The door to the office was wood and had small plaque with Ms. Kling's name.

"Ms. Kling?" Ralph pushed the door open. Ms. Kling was sitting at her desk behind a disorganized mess of papers. Noticing Ralph, she smiled constrainedly.

"Hi, Ralph."

Ralph passed her the stack of papers. "Mr. Silloh wanted me to take these to you."

"Right, the questionnaires." She put them in a stack on top of her desk. "So, about the... murder...accident?...Whatever it was...that you mentioned beforehand? Do you have any proof for that?"

Ralph looked at the ground. It would be easiest to just say he had no proof, but he figured Ms. Kling wouldn't let him slide that easily. He distantly remembered Jack yelling at him for telling in the first place. Things would definitely get worse if he said anything else. But... how did Jack find out he told so quickly?

"Ms. Kling?"

"Yes?"

"How did Jack know I told you about that?"

Ms. Kling averted her eyes, blushing slightly.

"I-I thought it might be a good idea to, you know, cross-check with someone else who was on the island, just to make sure-"

Ralph sighed. "Never mind."

"I'm sorry if it upset you."

"It's alright." It wasn't, but there was no way he could tell her that.

Ms. Kling leafed through the stack of papers. "Your dad's in the navy?"

"Yeah." Ralph quickly wiped away a forming tear. His dad would help him. His dad had even been trained to protect people. He was safe when his dad was around. Why couldn't things go back to the way they were?

"Ralph." Ralph looked at the bottom of Ms. Kling's desk. "We'll find your dad."

"Thanks," Ralph whispered. He wiped away another tear.

"In the meantime, can you tell me-?"

"No." Ralph was surprised to hear himself say that.

"No? Why not?"

Ralph shrugged. More tears came to his eyes. He couldn't say anything now.

"If you can't tell me, I can't do anything."

Ralph kept staring at the floor. Oh god, why couldn't she just let it go?

Ms. Kling sighed. "Alright. I can tell you won't tell me anything. You may go now."

Ralph bolted out of the office, almost running into Destiny, who was going the opposite direction. He jumped backward slightly, by instinct.

"Ralph, there you are! Calm down, its just me!"

"Oh... um... Destiny..." He shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts. "What is it?"

"Some of the tribe heard Jack yelling at you. I've seen them whispering to each other about it. Jack won't be happy."

"Oh." Ralph's stomach did a summersault.

"What did you tell Ms. Kling anyway?"

"Nothing. I didn't tell her anything."

"Good. We probably shouldn't make him more angry than he is, anyway."

Ralph nodded.


	6. Chapter 6

"Ms. Kling wants to talk to us."

"About what? What about school today?"

Destiny shrugged. "I dunno. Dotty was just hurrying everyone to the main room. We should probably go too."

"Huh."

It had been a day since Ms. Kling had her meeting with Ralph. He figured the rumors Destiny had mentioned were spreading. Everywhere he turned, kids seemed to be murmuring about something they wouldn't tell him.

Ralph and Destiny were the last ones in the main room. A boy who had been at the institute much longer than the boys from the island walked up to Destiny. He looked at Ralph with wide eyes.

"Is that one of the island kids who you've been hanging out with? I'd be careful, if I were you. I heard they killed someone."

Tears came to Ralph's eyes again. Destiny stepped in front of him.

"I don't know. Maybe you could ask Jack about that." She said sarcastically, pointing toward the other end of the room, where Jack was yelling at a couple of tribe members.

"I don't think I'm going to do that." He shrugged. "Just be careful, okay?" He walked away and joined the crowd again.

"Sorry about that. I guess the rumors really have been flying."

Ms. Kling walked to the front of the room. "Can I get your attention?" The room quieted. A couple of kids still standing sat down.

"One of the boys from the island has a parent in the navy. They will be easy to track down, and in the process, I might get the resources to track down some of the other kids' parents as well."

Muffled groans came from some areas of the room.

Ralph felt a flutter run through his stomach. Once his dad was back, he wouldn't have to worry about the tribe. He'd finally be protected, more protected than any adult here could make him. He had missed his dad a lot too. Now, Ralph could potentially be with him again!

"In the meantime, Dotty and Mr. Silloh will look after you." Ms. Kling gestured to the two staff members leaning against a wall. Mr. Silloh smiled broadly and waved.

People's groans were no longer muffled.

"Now, now, it isn't that bad. They'll do their job."

Destiny muttered to Ralph, "Yes. Yes, it is that bad."

Ralph nodded absentmindedly. He heard her just fine, but the hopeful, floating feeling drifting through him didn't allow him to care.

Mr. Silloh stepped in front of Ms. Kling. "Now, now, I know you kids don't want Ms. Kling to leave, but its alright. You can calm down! After all, you have me! I'm very good at this stuff, you know. Did I tell you about the time..."

More groans. Mr. Silloh either didn't hear them, or simply ignored them.

Destiny whispered again, "This is going to be a long meeting."

Ralph shrugged. He didn't mind if this would take a long time. Jack wouldn't attack him when the adults were watching, anyway. Besides, he might see his dad again soon! The hopeful tingles were still darting through his stomach as Mr. Silloh gave a speech about his psychology education, or something like that.

For the first time in weeks, maybe months, Ralph was too happy to care about something.


	7. Chapter 7

Later that night, Ralph and Destiny sat in their room.

"Hello? Ralph?" Destiny waved a hand in front of his eyes.

"Yeah?" Ralph responded distractedly.

"You've been acting really odd all night."

Ralph shrugged. A persistent smile remained on his face.

"Seriously, Ralph, tell me what's going on!"

Ralph gave up on holding back his excitement. "That was about my dad!"

Destiny drew back a little. "Really?"

"Yeah! I hope she'll find him soon."

"Great!"

For a couple of minutes, the room was silent besides the tick of the clock.

"Ralph?"

"Yeah?"

"Who's that person Jack's always with?"

Ralph shuddered a little. "Roger. Why?"

She shrugged. "Just wondering. They're usually with each other. How come?"

Ralph shrugged. He was starting to hate the direction of this conversation.

"Come on, I'm sure you know something!"

"Well, Roger... he..."

Piggy.

An image of the falling boulder flashed in Ralph's mind.

Ralph curled up into a tight ball, unable to hold back his sobs.

Why hadn't he respected Piggy more earlier? He only gained any respect for Piggy once everything started falling apart - not just for the sake of kindness or friendship. Piggy, on the other hand, had stayed loyal to him even when Ralph showed no kindness back.

What kind of a friend was he?

He should have seen it coming. He should have been able to stop it. Piggy had even asked for Ralph not to leave him.

Why was he so stupid?

"Hello?"

Ralph looked up, directly into Destiny's eyes. She looked at his tear-stained face for a moment, then down at the bed.

"I guess you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm sorry."

Ralph remained silent. Destiny laid a hand on his shoulder, and instinct made him shift away. Destiny scooted next to him.

"You'll see your dad again. I promise."

"Thanks."

It wasn't the reassurance he needed, but it was something, at least.

Ralph was awake long after she was asleep. This was not an unusual thing. After being rescued, all his dreams had twisted into vivid nightmares of being hunted by Jack. He had always dreaded sleep since then.

But this night was different. He stared quietly at a crack in the ceiling. An aching feeling remained in his chest. He didn't deserve to be alive. Not when he left his friends to die like that. Memories of his friends drifted through his mind.

Once, Jack had been his friend too. What had happened? He tried to remember, but couldn't. All he could remember was the running, the hunting, and the fear.

And Jack was still out there.

His dad might be coming back soon, but did that mean he was safe? No, not yet. The end of danger might be in sight, but he did not know how long Ms. Kling would take. Until she came back, he'd have to stay alive on his own.

Then, he might see his dad again.


	8. Chapter 8

Ralph sat in class, muscles tensed anxiously. After a night of worrying, nightmares, and little sleep, any trace of the happiness he had felt the previous night had been washed away. It hadn't helped when he walked in to class and noticed Jack and Roger both had spears leaning against the back of their chairs, out of view of the teacher. Mr. Silloh, on the other hand, seemed perky as ever.

"Alright, class... are you still this gloomy about Ms. Kling? As I said, I've studied psychology, so I understand. You are experiencing the positivity effect... or was that the placebo effect? Do any of you know?"

Destiny raised her hand. "Wouldn't you know, since you've studied this so much?" Her voice was dripping with exasperation.

"Yes, yes, of course! I just want to see if you know!"

"We don't. What is it?"

"It's... well... I need to go ask Dotty something. I'll be right back, so ne t'inquiète pas! That's don't worry, in French!"

The class groaned as Mr. Silloh left, but Ralph wasn't listening. All he could focus on was the shakiness running through his arms and legs.

There were no adults around to protect him.

No one between him and Jack.

As soon as Mr. Silloh's footsteps were out of earshot, Jack leapt up.

"Everyone in here better stay quiet. If you tell anyone what happened, I'm coming for you next."

Whispers flowed around the kids who hadn't been on the island.

Jack started to approach Ralph menacingly, spear in hand.

Ralph tried to hold back the scream crawling up his throat, but it came out in words.

" _What did I do_?"

Jack seemed taken back by the sudden question, but then his fury returned stronger than ever.

"Does it even matter?"

Destiny jumped in, getting up from her seat. "Of course it matters!"

Jack wheeled around to face her. "You shut up!"

"No! And from what I've heard, this isn't the first time you've killed someone for no reason!"

"I don't know why you trust Ralph on this, but that didn't happen!"

Roger spoke. The room turned to face him. "You know, we haven't seen Simon in a long time." A murmur swept across the room, and Roger shrugged. "Well, we haven't."

Jack turned on Roger. "It didn't happen!"

Roger flinched and tensed slightly at the start of the yelling, but he spoke calmly. His voice had taken on a tone of darkness, but Jack didn't seem to notice.

"You'd better not yell at me."

"Or what? I'm chief! You can't tell me what to do! Got that?"

Roger remained silent.

Jack turned around to face Ralph. Roger slowly got up behind him.

In one quick move, Roger pushed Jack to the ground, putting the tip of of a spear to his back.

A feeling of shock hit Ralph with such force, he almost thought he'd fall out of his seat. He couldn't muster the strength to do anything through his disorientation, not even run away.

Jack started to struggle, and Roger pushed the spear a little harder. His words came out cool and emotionless.

"If you move, I'll just kill you faster. You can't escape."

"What? Roger, let me go!" Jack's voice was tightened and shaky, and tears glinted in his eyes.

Roger let out a dark laugh. "I warned you."

"You're going to kill me for _that_?"

"I warned you."

Roger pushed on the spear even harder, allowing it to pierce Jack's skin. A small stream of crimson blood ran down his back and fell to the floor. Jack let out a small whimper of terror.

Before Ralph could respond, Destiny ran over and shoved Roger to the ground. She offered a hand to Jack.

"Come on! Let's go!"

Without taking Destiny's hand, Jack pushed himself up from the ground. The reality of what was happening jolted Ralph enough to follow them, running, out of the room. They didn't stop, not even for a moment, until they reached Ralph and Destiny's room.

Destiny slammed the door shut and locked it. Ralph leaned on the wall, panting. His thoughts had somewhat started to settle down. Destiny turned to Jack, who had collapsed on the bed.

"Well?"

"What?"

"I just saved your life even though I hate you! The least you could do is thank me!"

"Why _did_ you save me?"

"I don't know."

The room was silent for a moment before Destiny spoke again.

"Your back is still bleeding." She pulled out a tissue from a box on the dresser. "Here. I'm not getting any more blood on my bed." She pressed it to his back. The room became silent for about a minute before she continued. "So, what are we going to do about the person trying to kill us?"

Jack sat up quickly and winced. His back had started bleeding again. "Ow!"

Destiny raised her eyebrows. "Are you okay?" she asked sarcastically.

Jack glared at her. "I'm _not_ working with you guys."

Destiny rolled her eyes. "Why not? You are probably in even more danger than the rest of us!"

Jack kept glaring. His breathing had deepened. " _I'm not working with you guys!"_

"All right. You'll end up dead, though. You know that right?"

An evil grin spread across Jack's face. "And you guys will end up dead anyway."

Ralph let out an uncontrolled noise of fear. Destiny jumped to her feet.

 _"_ _What did you just say?"_

"That you'd end up dead anyway. What, you thought Roger could stop me?"

"You'd better stop with this! We'd get away from Roger better if we all worked together, anyway."

"Why would I stop? I'm not going to, not after all this!"

Destiny wrinkled up her face. "You disgust me. Go get killed by Roger, if thats what you want!"

Jack sprung off the bed. "I'll show you guys! I will! Just..." He looked around for a second, then stormed out of the room. The door slammed behind him.

Destiny walked over to Ralph, and stood next to him.

"He's going to get killed that way."

Ralph wiped his eyes. His heart rate was starting to slow to normal for the first time since class that day. "That doesn't mean he won't kill us first."

Destiny shrugged. "I guess not." She sighed, staring at the floor, as if it held the answers.

"What have I gotten myself into?"


	9. Chapter 9

"You really think we should go to dinner tonight?" Ralph fearfully scanned Destiny's face for a clue. Several hours later, they still hadn't left the room.

"Well, we can't stay in here forever." She shrugged. "Better eat now, rather than be starving tomorrow morning."

He didn't want to leave. Staying in the room felt safer, in an odd sort of way. But he had to admit, without food, they would be much weaker and more vulnerable. "I guess you're right..."

When they reached the dining hall, the first thing Ralph noticed was Jack, sitting awkwardly at the corner of a table away from anyone else. They locked eyes for a moment before Jack's gaze rushed to the ground.

" _There_ you two are!" Ralph turned around, starting a little. It was Mr. Silloh. He had a broad grin plastered on his face. "I was wondering were you were all day!" Destiny opened her mouth to speak, but Mr. Silloh cut her off before she could even begin. "Never mind that, Ralph, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"What?" A familiar feeling of adrenaline was pounding through his heart. He wasn't sure about anything Mr. Silloh had to say.

"You do know what a delusion is, right?" Mr. Silloh was speaking in a condescending tone that made the hair on Ralph's neck stand on end.

"...Yes...?"

"It is in my opinion that you may very well have paraphrenia." He said it like he had just discovered a new species of rabbit and was announcing it to the world.

"Para... what?"

"Paraphrenia. You don't know what that is?"

"No?"

"It means that you have a mental illness causing a lower grip on reality. As in delusions and that sort of thing."

A sick feeling was starting to form in Ralph's stomach. "Ms. Kling told you what I told her, didn't she?"

"Well, yes, of course!" Mr. Silloh made a wild gesture with his hands. "Who better to consult about psychology?"

Destiny spoke slowly. "How much do you even know about this? The situation, I mean."

"I know enough. Clearly, he's been experiencing delusions... well, if that's all here, I'd better be going."

"Wait!" Destiny called. Mr. Silloh left the room without listening to her. The room was silent for a moment.

"Paraphrenia, huh?" Everyone turned to look at Roger. "Guess no one will believe you after all." Roger looked Destiny in the eye. "You're Ralph's friend, right?"  
Destiny opened her mouth to respond, but Roger wasn't looking for an answer. "If you knew what was best for you, you wouldn't be his friend. That's all."

Destiny slowly moved to a spot on a bench, with Ralph hesitantly following. If he didn't do something, his only friend could get seriously hurt. Probably killed. Somehow, he would have to convince her to leave.

Ralph knew this wasn't going to be easy to handle.


	10. Chapter 10

Ralph couldn't tell if the air had become harder to breathe, or it was just him. If he was lucky, he'd simply suffocate and die without having to tell Destiny about this.

He knew he'd probably have to tell Destiny... why Roger was so dangerous, but he didn't want to tell anyone, ever. Hopefully, she'd just leave without requiring an explanation.

He took as deep of a breath as he could manage. "Destiny?"

"Yeah?" She looked up at him from the bed.

"You have to leave." His voice shook with the weight of his words.

"How come?"

"Can you please just trust me on this? You have to-"

"I don't have to do anything unless I know why I'm doing it."

Ralph stumbled forward, gasping for breath. He couldn't tell how the pain had somehow become too much to bear so quickly.

Destiny got up and ran over. "Are you okay?" she asked in rushed tones.

It took a little while for Ralph to be able to speak again.

"You have to go. So you don't get hurt."

Destiny hesitated, her eyes flicking away. "Did... did something happen?"

"Yes." Ralph wrapped his arms around himself, wincing. It felt like his chest was breaking apart and being squeezed at the same time.

"Would you mind telling me what it is?"

Ralph searched for the easiest way to explain. How did you even tell someone about something like this?

"You know those glasses that Jack always carries around?" He couldn't get his voice to stop shaking.

"I'm guessing they're not his?"

Ralph shook his head. "They used to belong to my friend. Piggy." A sob broke out. Destiny opened her mouth, then shut it. She was silent for a moment.

"What happened to him?"

Ralph had to search for his words again. "Roger."

"I... I'm... I'm sorry."

"You have to go. I can't... I can't-" Ralph gasped for air between his tears. "I can't have this happen again."

Destiny took a shuddering breath, then spoke quietly. "Okay. I understand. Bye, I guess." She hurried out of the room without looking back.

Ralph sobbed even harder.

He was alone.

It felt like he was breaking inside.

And there was no one there to help him.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning, Ralph dragged himself into the dining room. He had spent most of the night crying. His arms and legs felt like they were being dragged down by 10-pound weights. Jack stared at him, openly puzzled.

"Where's-"

"I told her to leave."

"But why-"

"I don't want anything to happen to her."

"Oh. Right."

Silence descended on the conversation. Jack busied himself with trying to clean a patch of dirt off the table with his finger. Looking at Jack became awkward, so Ralph glanced away. He noticed the twins speak to Dotty, the supervising adult for that morning. All three of them left the room. Ralph fidgeted nervously, his stomach clenching.

"Uh, Jack?"

"What?" Jack snapped, eyes burning with anger.

"Dotty just left."

The defensiveness melted from Jack's face.

Roger got up and made a quick gesture towards them. The tribe started to threateningly advance.

"Run!"

The statement seemed to jolt Jack back out of a daze. They bolted into the kitchen, the tribe following at their heels.

Two against at least twenty. How were they supposed to get through this? Think, he had to think! Ralph's eyes darted around, landing on a porcelain plate resting on a counter.

Ralph picked up the plate and threw it at the nearest savage. Without looking to see the results of the attack, he darted further into the kitchen. He started picking up more random objects off the counter and throwing them.

More plates.

Salt and pepper shakers.

Anything he could get his hands on.

Someone came up behind him. He jolted out his elbow and hit them. Hard. The savage toppled over.

Ralph backed even further into the kitchen. His hands reached out for anything else he could grab. He bumped into someone and jumped.

"Its just me." Jack was pale and had lost all color. He was holding a wooden spoon as a weapon. "How do you think we should get out?"

"I don't... I don't know..."

"What is going on here?" Dotty stood at the door with hands on her hips. "I get that you kids need to play and all, but you're not allowed to be in here, let alone trash the place." She picked up a piece of a pepper shaker. "How did you kids even do this?"

"Sorry, Dotty." Ralph's voice was monotone and insincere, but Dotty didn't seem to notice.

"Well, just don't do it again. And come out of there!" The boys walked back out into the cafeteria.

"Hey, thanks." Jack stared at the ground. His voice was like that of a child being forced to apologize. "I guess you're good at this." He shifted uncomfortably. "Though, I guess you would be, what with all the practice I gave you. With running away." He started to look up, then looked back down. He continued talking in fabricated tones. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay with you. For protection, I mean. For both of us."

"You're messing with me." Ralph wasn't planning on falling for anything that might hurt him later.

Jack blushed. "Don't make this more embarrassing. I still hate you. We aren't doing it forever."

"But-"

Jack's voice rose a notch in irritation. "This isn't meant as a choice. Just cooperate already, okay?"

"Like _you_ know anything about cooperating." Ralph didn't know where his boldness was coming from. He supposed it was easier to talk to Jack without the tribe.

Jack was yelling. "Look, it doesn't matter what I know! We're doing it, okay?"

"Last afternoon, you wanted to kill me! You _refused_ to work with me!"  
"Well, maybe I changed my mind!" He let out a frustrated sigh. "There's no way I would have survived that on my own! You have to work with me!"

"Or what? You'll die like your victims?"

For a moment Jack looked like he had been hit. His face twisted back into its usual shield of temper.

"Fine! Work on your own for all I care!" He turned and stormed into the vegetable garden Destiny had mentioned only earlier that week, though it felt like much longer.

Ralph supposed he should feel happy. After all, he finally stood up to Jack. Right?

He didn't know what he felt. But the twisting in his heart sure wasn't happiness.


End file.
